Indigenous-led conservation efforts match or surpass similar initiatives when properly funded, new research shows
Government support helps communities limit carbon emissions and promote biodiversity while maintaining cultural heritage and traditions
image:
Camilo Alejo, left, with Damon Matthews
view moreCredit: Concordia University
Federally funded Indigenous-led conservation programs are delivering highly effective climate and biodiversity outcomes, aligning with national greenhouse gas mitigation and biodiversity goals, according to a new paper led by Concordia researchers.
Writing in the journal Earth’s Future, the authors say these programs, as Indigenous-led Nature-based Solutions (NbS), can be just as or even more effective at carbon storage and biodiversity conservation as conventional national and provincial parks.
“Most of the knowledge we have about Indigenous-led conservation efforts comes from countries in the tropics,” says lead author Camilo Alejo, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment. “We want to explore the effect of government support on Indigenous-led initiatives in the Canadian context.”
Comparing vast areas
The study examines two Indigenous-led NbS: the Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) and the Indigenous Guardians programs.
The IPCAs were established in 2018 and consist of vast regions of land and water in the Northwest Territories. They are administered by local Indigenous Nations using Indigenous laws and traditions and ensure that the peoples there maintain their relationship with their lands. The two IPCAs the researchers studied — Thaidene Nëné on the eastern arm of Great Slave Lake and Edéhzhíe to its west — together cover some 40,000 square kilometres.
The $125-million Indigenous Guardians program was launched in 2017. It has funded over 240 initiatives that act as “eyes and ears on-the-ground,” monitoring ecological health, maintaining cultural sites and protecting sensitive areas and species. All of them are led by First Nations, Inuit or Métis communities.
To carry out the study, the researchers combined national-scale data on forests, vegetation, soils, wildlife habitat and land use with information on Indigenous-led initiatives funded between 2018 and 2020.
They compared three types of land: government-funded Indigenous lands, Indigenous lands without federal funding and conventional protected lands, such as national or provincial parks.
The team used geospatial analysis to map carbon stored in plants and soils and calculated a biodiversity index that included species richness, rarity and ecological intactness. The different land areas were made as comparable as possible using statistical methods, which provided a clearer picture of the effects of Indigenous governance over the areas under their management.
Finally, the researchers analyzed descriptions of Indigenous-led projects to identify common themes. Three principal themes emerged: stewardship practices, including traditional fire practices of controlled burns, knowledge exchange and climate adaptation.
These analyses showed that federally funded Indigenous-led efforts at conserving carbon and biodiversity matched or exceeded outcomes in protected areas. Indigenous-led saw significantly lower carbon loss between 2017 and 2020 than these other areas while keeping biodiversity levels stable, improving on pre-funding carbon trends.
The study did not look at what caused emissions to rise or fall, but land transformation driven by human activity like logging and forest fires were believed to be contributors.
Border issues
The researchers noted conservation project descriptions often linked environmental benefits to Indigenous governance, intergenerational knowledge sharing and climate and biodiversity initiatives.
However, they also say ongoing issues around land tenure, ownership and jurisdiction risk complicating conservation works.
“This study shows that Indigenous-led conservation is an effective mechanism to generate positive environmental outcomes,” says co-author Damon Matthews, a professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment.
“Government funding improves these outcomes. But we have to address issues of land tenure and control on top of that.”
Assembly First Nations strategic advisor Graeme Reed at York University contributed to this study.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Microsoft supported this research.
Read the cited paper: “Indigenous-Led Nature-Based Solutions Align Net-Zero Emissions and Biodiversity Targets in Canada”
Journal
Earth's Future
Method of Research
Data/statistical analysis
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Indigenous-Led Nature-Based Solutions Align Net-Zero Emissions and Biodiversity Targets in Canada
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